ABSTRACT
When individuals feel they have been wronged by another party, they face the choice to pass over the present (Hopper, 1981) or to take some form of remedial action (Goffman, 1971). Similarly, when individuals are in the process of doing something they anticipate another person may not approve, they can choose whether to desist, to acknowledge the pending problem, to disclaim, or to account for their actions. In either case, overlooking or avoiding a problem has much to recommend it because it might avoid transforming nonserious troubles into more serious problematic situations: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” On the other hand, taking an early opportunity to remedy a potential or actual problem can restrict or contain the problem and keep it from growing in seriousness. When problems do occur, they can be dealt with before neglect or poorly executed remedial work worsens them: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This dichotomy is of some importance for the study of alignment (Hewitt and Stokes, 1975; Morris, 1991; Morris & Hopper, 1980, 1987; Ragan & Hopper, 1981) because it gets to the heart of how and when people align.
